It’s 2013. Learn a new skill, create a new talent, water some small seed of knowledge with your tears of discontent and let it grow into a monstrous tree of self-congratulatory bluster. The tree can never be taken from you. Instead of a compulsive chip-eater, become a compulsive chip-eater who knows how to fold an origami frog and drive a semi-truck.

How do you go about turning your yard into a pastoral pecking ground for a handful of chooks? The folks over at the Old School have your back. For the incredibly low price of $7, you can sign up for a one-hour class that will introduce you to all the basics of the urban chicken lifestyle.

How I almost learned to play an instrument without trying very hard

By Carl Petersen

For over five decades I've practiced an intense and, I think, quite reasonable refusal to acknowledge the very existence of dulcimers. Yet dulcimers exist, if only in defiance of my will. Also, Cyndi Lauper plays the dulcimer, and I can do anything Lauper can. Anything.

Learning to sew again has been on my resolution list for at least five years. Patterns have accumulated, and my browser's DIY sewing project bookmarks have grown unwieldy. After doing a little research, I ended up contacting The Designer's Lounge, whose Facebook page has been a source of inspiration. I messaged co-owner Teresa Romero, and she offered to give me a lesson on the basics. I may have been the most pedal-shy student ever, but Romero's patience and encouragement and her clear demonstrations and descriptions had me anxiously but steadily humming away.